Recent reviews by CosmicD

A southern fairy tale-noir

This game is a pure mosaic of storytelling, gameplay, action and adventure. The puzzling isn't super tough but flows well in the world, puts up enough of a roadblock to get you exploring and viewing more of the beautiful southern, swampy, spooky and fantastical tapestry that unfolds in front of you, and you'll find an unexpected ledge or beautifully "woven" tree trunk winding up or down, a magical bridge, or a vertical wall jump. Your next goal is just a pictoresque environmental postcard puzzle away in this game.

A beautiful mosaic is the theme of this review. Because when I'm in that deserted mansion, I think about the atmosphere of Clive Barker's undying, If Hazel through the eerie but beautiful forests and swamps, I'm reminded of American McGee's Alice who is discovering a whole new depth of the place where she used to live. Only to realize i'm reenacting a level of "outlast meets crash bandicoot" parkour and jumping gameplay when fleeing away from a reality defeating menace.

Hazel congures up items from other planes of reality like Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite and there is a particular way of advancing through the level that reminds me of dead space 3. If that sounds outrageous: If you're in chapter 8, remember it.

The game alternates between advancing the story with absurd legendary characters from southhern folklore depicted in a stop motion way that makes its unique visual style even more distinct, and strange encounters with abominations you have to weave away, which will become easier if you advance through the skill trees with floofs that you find throughout the world. Exploring the world isn't only visually pleasing but also rewards you with health upgrades. Find 3 and your bar will become larger. All this will make the later fights a bit more easy.

The soundtrack consists of a melange of gospel, jazz and folk music and there are a couple of songs that are really spooky, moody or cause comical relief.

I would say the only cons is that the stigma fight sometimes become too plenty and repetitive, but as you upgrade your skill tree, you get more interesting ways to attack these abominations, and using these variations can keep it fresh.

Sometimes, the story skips a beat and where you'd expect a fight, there will be an other "by proxy" manner for you to support the strange characters you meet.

Overall, this game is an original tale of discovery, selfrealisation and a "signs & wonders" kind of experience for our main character.

cons: I like how they focused on Katya's struggles to cope with the situation.

In the first half, she's cold and evasive and doesn't want to indulge into P-3's appeal to her humanity and being his wife. This is in big contrast with the possibilities she saw when back in limbo.

Once out of limbo, she is confronted with the restraints of being in the glove, fully realizing how suffocating it was to live as twins. But trough the various interactions throug the new beautiful under water world of Triton, where dolphin brains are used to power robots, she warms up and near the end, she realizes there is no I in team, and after more interaction with her mother, she seems to embrace what is left of her humanity! Kayta becomes very keen on facing the world as P3's wife, even when that means she has to be in the ballerina twin!

Gameplaywise it's back to the Atomic Heart gameplay we know, frantic melee or gunplay action with enemies that love to literally wipe the floor with you if you don't pay attention.

I do feel the newly introduced characters are somewhat of a mixed bag. The only one that I really find contributing is Nikolai, who will help Katya in a big way. The hunter is announced as this bad ass intelligence person but ... he really doesn't show himself in a big way. Our dolphin trainer Nastya is fun an bubbly but there is really no deeper dimension to this person; She doesn't really tell us much about how she feels of what is going on in the triton complex.

But if you're a katya fan like me, and are very engaged in her narrative and mysterious growth in the game, this is a pure love letter episode, as was the previous one!

A welcome reunion with Max who has settled down to a new life in an important assistant teacher in a small town university, Her powers change in an interesting way for this new adventure. She meets new interesting characters and the choices you make have a nice new addition (taken from dreamfall chapters): as you can now see which choices were most popular with the community.

After an unfortunate event, max struggles with how her powers changed, as she just can't simply reverse time to undo stuff in the first game. The story also delves into the consequences of those actions from before. And as Double exposure drama unfolds, max will find herself into a whole new world of trouble, and she'll have to deal with events in a refreshingly new way.

Personally , I find the slightly lesser positive thing in this game is that some of the main character's motives and background is not completely fleshed out in a satisfying way, Allowing the story to delve more into the history of 2 of the main support characters would made certain behavios more obvious for Max, and certainly for the player. For the rest, Max herself also gets opportunities to form and shape several friendly and romantic relationships, and in true Life Is Strange style, some choices have a small effect on some small narrative beats.

And the best of all is that at the end, we get the promise that Max will return!

I've enjoyed this little slice of Ravenholm to prepare us for Project Borealis. The typical gameplay is back and I feel this team has gone through great lengths creating style and gameplay + atmosphere for the modern era.

To see unreal engine emulate the legacy source engine menu interface with new graphics features comes across as very anachronistic, and a fun gimmick! I have to say they "imitated" source pretty well, except from some little details. I feel like the physics in the original (base) game have more punch. A huge part of this is sound, and part of that is the speed and frantic way the physics interact with eachother. The gravity manipulator plays well, and physics objects in the world do react almost similar to hl2, But Impacts with the crow bar should also be more beefy. Especially when headcrabs jump you and you hit em with it, or you beat the zombies, It lacks the distinct punch of the original game. But I'm convinced this can be improved.

Also, what they must improve is the slight snappiness and directness of the controls. I feel like the mouselook and walking-to idle envelopes feel a bit more soapy and mouse look feels similar to the pre-hardware mouse input era of source.

Even when it runs at more than 60 fps, it feels a bit like its suffering from these "mouse action to frame rate interpolation" problems of old console ports. This can definitely made a bit more snappier. (but I feel like the latest beta has improved on this a bit)

When you sprint, Gordon's subtle mouse sniff sounds a bit like a super race car switching gears.

I'm looking forward to how this project will evolve. I hope the quality will be on par with Crowbar's Black Mesa reimagining of the first game, and especially Xen! if they can bring it up to this quality, it would be a great intermediate experience to help the hype for when Valve are able to count to 3 and actually release the 3rd main game.

Positives

- Crossbow
- Controlling rats and rat vision in several different ways
- The gripping story continues, taking Amicia, Hugo, and the others through hope and fear, discoveries, gruesome fates, and literal avalanches of rats.
- Refined original stealth mechanics
- In addition to the workbench upgrades from the first game, Amicia can now passively gain perks by successfully traversing zones in specific ways or crafting frequently. Eventually, you can tackle both armored and unarmored soldiers, even killing the latter with a knife.
- rat vision (when hugo is around and on edge, you can see highlights of enemies and in a limited way control the rats. The latter is highly gatekept and story limited. There is a point in the story that this mechanic becomes even more fascinating, depicting Hugo's growth towards the macula.

The nice and the annoying:

- Stealth areas have become bigger but that comes with a price. Whereas the original game offered a more guided experience, this time they are often convoluted, sometimes densely populated with a mix of helmeted and unarmored enemies that are difficult to steer clear of or device tactics against without causing chaos.

Without a clear view of what's ahead, I often had to retry multiple times to understand the layout, enemy types, and various approaches. Sometimes, the escape was a very hidden narrow passage.

- This sequel offers many more options, and rats pose a greater threat, creating "denial zones" that require precise navigation. From chapter 3 and onwards, The ability to throw and ignite tar pools demands meticulous placement—a slight misjudgment can lead to a swift demise. The first game's approach was much clearer.

- The game invites you to keep snooping around in large areas to find tools and upgrade items, as they are more hidden and not directly in safe paths like in the first game. Dying repeatedly to acquire them can sometimes turn an otherwise delightful experience into a chore. Failing often enough, and I used the convenient "invincibility mode" to traverse the area, find the objects and then restart to play the area for real.

Methodically getting rid of armored guards amiss a cross fire coming from other soldiers sometimes seems a bit clunky and unmanagable with the tools that Amicia has, but it is strangely satisfying to finally be able to do it as I'm energized by Amicia's frantic taunting in such passages :)

But all things combined, I enjoyed the game very much. It most definitely has the DNA of the first game and adds to it. Sometimes the things added take the gameplay a bit overboard and difficult to handle, but its all made up by the engaging story.

Viessa & Gley FTW

This is a true cake walk experience (both literally and figuratively) on steroids. There's a bit of everything, FPS shooting, weird "golfclub" mechanics and boss encounters, a little bit of "tomb raider-esque climbing and Sonic The Hedge hog meets SC Surf.

The platforming, mobile game type, gameplaying is especially frustrating sometimes but when after 1000 retries you finally get the hang of it, and as you start to remember the routines, it becomes exhilerating and satisfying to play.

Sure, there are some platforming situations here and there, where the gameplay seems arbitrary and out of your control. My thoughts is that they'll not change much about that but it's not unbeatable.The climbing puzzles can sometimes be finnicky and the goose racing finale is downright nervewrecking. But it's all worth it because this DLC features an overdose of the enigmatic spirit of the protagonist's deceased wife who asks your help to save both your sanity and herself will act like a Disneyworld theme park tour guide for this experience, filling you in on alot of the game's narrative you might want answers to.

I just think in general that combination of wacky gameplay and story, and the visual world creates a memorable but often frustrating affair! But to steelman this experience via the lore, you're doing an effort to regain your sanity!

The game has many layers. At first sight there's the hyperorganized and roboticized communism 2.0 arc in an alternate universe Russia that won WW2. Wacky oversexualized crafting machines, talking gloves, a passive agressive protagonist and strange bedfellows and a GrandMother-I-DONT-Want-To-♥♥♥♥-With.

But underneath lies a more sinister and esoterical narrative of experimental scientific breakthroughs that grew over the creators's heads and became transcendent, leading to a quite stimulating open end ripe for many theories of how our main protagonist will deal with his own afflictions vs the interests of 'the motherland'.

The gameplay versatility in this game is astounding. Not only does it provide gameplay elements ranging from frantic Doom--like action mixed with beefed-up BioShock abilities, to portal-style puzzle solving and "watch dogs" hacking and scanning, the game also allows you to prepare yourself for big bos fights on a semi open world big floating island with aperture-science-style puzzle centres that provide breaks from the fast paced action. There you'll be able to acquire enough "lustful abandon" to upgrade many aspects of your character skills and passive abilities.

The protagonist will also slowly discover how kollektiv created a tragic outcome in his personal life, and allegiences will change depending some choices he made.

The soundtrack treats you to a goofy Russian schlager and contemporary music remixfest in dubstep / progressive house / metal and more. The art style might be remeniscent of Bioshock but the semi open world and not in the least the story are unique and quirky enough to give it it's own distinctive vibe.

In 2008, a team of software developers created a third-person adventure horror survival game where you solve problems aboard a 1,5 km long spaceship in distress, infested with monsters known as Necromorphs. The iconic classic has received an upgrade for next-gen hardware and gamers, and it really shows. The remake immerses you in each of the faithfully recreated environments and underpins them with clearer narrative continuity boosts. More survivors on each deck engage with Isaac Clarke to help and involve him with the encounters we all know from the original game.

The updated version of the game offers new experiences for both veteran and new players. The Ishimura will show sides of itself previously not seen in the original game, and provide a unique refreshing horror experience for both long-time fans and new players.

You will experience new and slightly revamped layers of gameplay: these include gaining security levels, upgrading your rig at the bench, lifting lockdowns, and looking for special weapon upgrade parts. The exploration gameplay has been horizontally expanded since the original game. While advancing, you will also encounter side missions, some of which lead to important upgrades that you wouldn’t want to miss. Boxes containing valuable weapon upgrades are locked behind a special clearance level that you will have to find to fully upgrade your arsenal of tools.

All of this takes place in a seamlessly interconnected version of the Ishimura. After you boot the game and enter the main menu, you find yourself right into the game world at the last position where you saved, whether it was at a save station or an autosave checkpoint. You just have to press “continue” to resume playing. The camera then moves to the back of your character, and you’re ready to go!

Some nitpicks:

A fair review should include a criticism section, and there are a few things I would like to address. Let’s start with some minor issues so that we can get them out of the way. Despite the significant improvements in all areas that define Dead Space, they are really just minor complaints.

Talking about doors: unlike in the classic games, as you open them and retreat: they don’t “emergency re-open” as you approach them again while they’re closing. It had a nice convenience to it, and if you’re accustomed to that behavior it takes some adjusting. Now, the door even closes a bit too soon if you peak into the room to see if there’s a crowd and back off from it immediately.

TK-slamming the item boxes feels slightly different than in the original games. The studio was inspired by Dead Space 2’s improvements but wanted to avoid creating the frenetic telekinesis speed from that game. Instead, they added a “Dead Space 1 weight” to it. It takes some time to get used to, but it’s still enjoyable. The action feels a bit in-between: not sluggish as in the original game but also more weighted than in DS2! It does feel like the things you pick up have substance. The limb-grabbing-and-shooting mechanic from Dead Space 2 is present in this remake as well and is implemented effectively. You can even earn an achievement by ripping off a dangling limb and shooting it back at the enemy. Overall, it’s a great experience despite the slight difference.

What I certainly dislike is how the priority rules of medkit sizes usage are reversed compared to the classic games. I would prefer to always use small and medium kits first even if I have low health, as I like to preserve these for the last chapters.

Soundtrack-wise, I liked the strings riser in the hive mind’s reveal scene from the original a bit better. It just had a more appropriate and dramatic finishing touch!

An extra bonus nitpick: Isaac doesn’t swear as often when you continuously stomp. BUT, for me, that is well compensated by the fact that he does it when all his ammo is empty!
Having played the original game so often, these are some of the things that are very noticeable, but really don’t get in the way of admiring the hell out of this remake!

There are some missed opportunities.

Though the previous list was minor, I suggest making some encounters in chapter 10 more intense. For example, the hunter could continue chasing you for longer runs until you reach the next residency. This would add more intensity. Even in Hard/Impossible mode, after understanding the restructuring of chapter 10, I felt that the hunter chases could be a bit longer, but not throughout the entire chapter. This could be a great way to experience the game in a separate gameplay mode.

Chapter 12 could have been fleshed out better. Despite the more evenly distributed Necromorph encounters: meeting colony survivors that tell you to restore tether power control would have been great, with an extra lore-related story item from the downfall movie.

But the classic game grew up nevertheless!

The sci-fi horror game has improved on classic versions in many ways. The core gameplay has successfully transitioned to a new engine, with some impressive new features such as banking and rolling while EVA'ing in Zero-G. The Ripper upgrade is particularly noteworthy, as it now feels more solid and effective than in any previous version. The Force Gun has a punch reminiscent of Dead Space 2, while item stomping is swifter and more satisfying than in classic games. The ability to examine the locator path on the new, more readable map view is also a welcome addition. The game's weapons overhaul lets fans and new players alike adjust and come up with new combos to experience. For example: I love to use the flamethrower's alt + stasis now. In the classic games, I barely ever touched this weapon.

Accessibility

it’s great that you can have an all-caps and character-colored subtitle, and one of the reasons I like dead space so much is that the dietetic in-game aiming tools are basically a very high contrast crosshair beam that always provides a lead on the target. Especially when you have the plasma cutter’s fire damage over time, the Necromorph arms light up, also when you use stasis, they light up really well in the darkness. One thing that I would suggest, is that the text-to-speech feature could also be used to narrate the many text logs in the game.

Conclusion

Newcomers to the franchise can rest assured that the overall classic identity of the original game is being put on steroids and the action-packed game direction from the sequel is artistically integrated into this definitive edition of the first game. It changes the rigid “chapter per deck” formula to a story progression that naturally flows from one situation into the other. In general, the remake offers more spectacle and heart-pounding (and breaking) moments, the scenarios are reconceptualized to illustrate the actors are touched by darkness.
As you can see, I played the remake several times now, to get all the achievements and this fancy foam finger which also makes a return after you finish impossible mode. And I have the peng statue on my night table beside my bed!

Overall, Motive did a stellar job and as a superfan surely trust them with the continuation of this franchise

After seeing demos and streams walking us through the early development of Negative Atmosphere, this free introduction is a rarther unexpected move from the studio. This is a medically themed and focused gameplay experience within that universe and serves as as an apetizer for the main game. Usually there would be a comic or a novel. But Sunscorched studio chose to whip up this free interactive prologue.

the 3 phases of this mini-game ease you into the theme of the game while also giving you a bit of backstory about the origins of whatever happened aboard the Rusinov. This approach gives you the chance to experience part of the core professional duties of the the main protagonist. The experience of triage, diagnose, scan and operate on patients submerge you into his daily activities as we learn about llife on the ship slowly going south.

This introduction game is in contrast with what we can already see from the main game's footage (available on the developers' youtube channel), In the upcoming main game, Samuel Edwards' situation wil change and events will push him outside his comfort zone to survive the missions of the main horror sci-fi adventure that this game is a prelude to!